Exploring normative commitment with Nigerian extension workers
| Date | 01 April 1989 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230090207 |
| Author | R. D. Dul,J. C. Munene |
| Published date | 01 April 1989 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, VOL.
9,
169-183
(1989)
Exploring normative commitment with Nigerian
extension workers
J.
C.
MUNENE and
R.
D. DUL
University
of
Jos
SUMMARY
This paper explores normative commitment using a sample
of
60
agricultural extension
workers in a voluntary rural development programme. Organizational commitment is
related to participation, standardization, and coordination in order to examine their relative
influence on the visit effort
of
extension agents. Age, education, salary, tenure, position,
and participation did not have
any
influence on normative commitment, whereas
standardization negatively influenced
it.
Commitment, along
with
red tape, influenced visit
efforts.
Two
major conclusions emerge. The first is that traditional personal
and
role-related
antecedents
of
commitment may be related to instrumental
but
not to normative
commitment. The second is that normative commitment can predict behaviour outcomes in
public organizations.
Commitment is increasingly used to explain a number of organizational misbeha-
viours such as low productivity, lack of dedication, and absenteeism (Lincoln and
Kalleberg, 1985).
As
more researchers have applied the concept, more sophistic-
ated models have appeared allowing for a clearer understanding of it. Wiener and
Vardi (1980), for instance, identify three components, namely organizational
commitment, job commitment, and career commitment. The first is the general
feeling of loyalty to one’s organization resulting in organizationally induced pride
and willingness to stay; the second is a job-specific belief concerning how the job
meets one’s needs (Kanungo, 1982); the third is the feeling of attachment to one’s
profession. Wiener and Vardi also emphasize the important distinction between
calculative or instrumental organizational commitment and normative or psychol-
ogical organizational commitment. The former originates from perceiving the
object of commitments as instruments for attaining specific objectives such as
psychological or economic needs, whereas the latter stems from perceiving the
objects
as
ends
in
themselves. They also point out that calculative commitment is
more accurately considered as motivation, and is the more appropriate explanation
of behaviour in profit-oriented organizations, whereas normative commitment
is
the valid measure of commitment in non-profit-making organizations.
In this study we focus on normative organizational commitment because we are
concerned with non-profit-making, voluntary rural development project organiza-
tions, and extension services. We also focus on organizational commitment because
organizational-level issues have often been ignored in the study and practice of
rural development efforts (Wu and Ip, 1981).
Dr Munene and Ms Dul are
in
the Department
of
General and Applied Psychology, University
of
Jos,
PMB
2084,
Jos,
Nigeria.
027
1-2075/89/020
169-1
5$07.50
0
1989
by
John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
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